Session Law

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 32E½ of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “section”, in line 1, the following words:- and section 32E¾.

SECTION 2. Said section 32E½ of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of the “Rental company” the following definition:-

“Vehicle license cost recovery fee”, a charge to recover costs incurred by a rental company to license, title, register, plate, inspect or pay excise tax on its rental fleet in the commonwealth which shall be separately stated and assessed on a rental agreement in a private passenger motor vehicle rental transaction originated in the commonwealth.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 90 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 32E½ the following section:-

Section 32E¾. A rental company may include separately stated surcharges, fees or charges in a rental agreement, which may include, but shall not be limited to, vehicle license cost recovery fees, airport access fees, airport concession fees, convention center surcharges and all applicable taxes; provided, however, that: (i) these surcharges, fees or charges shall not be included in the base cost of the vehicle rental; (ii) these surcharges, fees or charges shall be disclosed in a manner that is readily noticable in the rental agreement; and (iii) the rental company shall include a statement in any price advertisement it makes in the commonwealth about the existence of these surcharges, fees or charges that a consumer must pay and which may be separately stated on a rental transaction.
If a rental company includes a vehicle license cost recovery fee as a separately stated charge in a rental transaction, the amount of the fee shall represent the rental company’s good faith estimate of the daily charge necessary for the rental company to recover its actual total annual costs to license, title, register, plate, inspect or pay excise tax costs on its rental fleet in the commonwealth. If the total amount of the vehicle license cost recovery fees collected by a rental company pursuant to this section in a calendar year exceeds the rental company’s actual costs to license, title, register, plate, inspect or pay excise tax costs on its rental fleet in the commonwealth for that calendar year, the rental company shall: (i) retain the excess amount; and (ii) adjust the estimated average per vehicle charge to recover the costs to license, title, register, plate, inspect or pay excise tax for the following calendar year by a corresponding amount.
This section shall not prohibit a rental company from adjusting the vehicle license cost recovery fee during a calendar year as it determines to be necessary.